Luận văn exploiting model essays in teaching ielts writing to students in foundation studies department hanoi university

List of tables and figures Table 1: Summary of IELTS writing teachers ‘Table 2: Challenges in using model essays of IELI'S Writing ‘Task 1 Table 3: Challenges in using model essays of IE

VIETNAM NATIONAI UNIVERSITY, ITANOT TINIVERSTTY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

POST GRADUATE DEPARTMENT

TRAN THI THU HUONG

EXPLOITING MODEL ESSAYS IN TEACHING IELTS WRITING

TO STUDENTS IN FOUNDATION STUDIES DEPARTMENT,

HANOI UNIVERSITY

SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE

DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS (IEFL)

Hanoi, May 2010

TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE

LL Statement of the problem and the rationale of the study secesseseesese need

3.3 Data collection procedure

3.5 Data analysis procedure

CHAPTER 14: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

CHAPTER 5: PEDAGOGICAI IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 Wher lo exploit model essays

5.2 Whal elements to exploit from model

38

Il

List of tables and figures

Table 1: Summary of IELTS writing teachers

‘Table 2: Challenges in using model essays of IELI'S Writing ‘Task 1

Table 3: Challenges in using model essays of IELTS Writing Task 2

Figure 1: Aspects of model essays most exploited by teachers in LELTS Writing ‘ask 1

Figure 2; Aspects of model essays most exploited by teachers in IELTS Writing Task 2

CIIAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Introduction

The first chapter states the research problem and justifies the rationale for the study Afterwards, three research questions, the aims, scope as well as the methods of the study are prosented, The chapler ends with an overview of laler chapters, which acls ax a clear outline for the whole paper

1.1 Statement of the problem and the rationale for the study

Over the decades, there have been a growing number of English learners wishing to study at tertiary level in English speaking countries As a result, many non-native students

are rained Lo go through English language tes

Testing Systems (IELTS), which is widely recognized as a language requirement for entering universities mainly in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand

such as the International English Language

In the standardized IKLT'S test, academic essay writing is one of the important skills which infernalional shudlonls nmst acquire both far their prospective siulios in English mediated courses and for obtaining the required score in the writing section However, due

to the complexities of learning to write well ina second language, there has been vigorous dehulc on more effective teaching methods and [ecdback among many IELTS writing teachers In recent yours, several studics on strategic tools for (caching IELTS wriling have been conducted Emerged fiom Rick VanDeWeghe’s theory about teaching;

“whatever we want our students to do well, we first have to show them how” (2006), the use of model essays as onc type of strategic tool, unquestioningly plays a crucial role in assisting teachers to better facilitate students in their writing skills Being intrigued to further explore how leachers apply this e{Gieient tool, the researcher makes invesligalion in

the context of Vietnam for two main reasons

Initially, in Vietnam recently, teaching LEL''S is getting more and more popular in

a larger proportion of educational settings to meet the learners” demand ITowever, research

on methods or tools for teaching IELTS in general and IELTS writing in particular has just kept a modest number As far as the researcher could find, there has been no research delving inlo the exploitation of model essays in Leaching IRITS writing Therefore, the

researcher hopes to fill this gap to certain extent by digging deeper into the exploitation of this powerful [caching loot Secondly, referring lo Vicamese pedagogical context, teaching IELTS writing is proven to be challenging due to its nature as well as the high pressure of achieving the target band score Such a fact highly demonstrated the need for researching ways, siralegies or tools (Irat help promote effective leaching Among those teaching tools, model essays are selected to be the subject matter of investigation The researcher expects the study can provide guidelines for Vietnamese teachers to fully employ mort essays as substartiat assistance for teaching TELTS writing

In Foundation Studies Department of Hanoi University, where IELTS has been taught as one subject to prepare students for the final conditional test, writing section has kept a part of every lesson Nevertheless, duc to a number of rcasons, teaching writing component still appears hard for teachers owing to their ineffective application of strategic tools In this context, the researcher feels an urge to carry out a study on employing model

essays

is one efficient Leaching tool to guide students for the IET.TS writing snb-lesl al the end of term

1.2 Aims of the study

At the outset, this study is an attempt to shed more light on what aspects teachers

explore ftom the model essays to teach JELI'S writing in the target educational setting Moreover, this study also aitns al invesligaling some difficultios for teachers when employing model essays as a teaching tool Finally, through discovering those problems, the paper could also serve as a detailed proposal to efficiently exploit model essays in

facilitating students to perform better in ILLT'S writing test

In order to achieve the abovementioned aims, the study will be conducted to answer

three rescarch questions:

1 What aspects of modct essays do toachers oxploil to teach IELTS writing in ctass?

2 What challenges do teachers probably face when employing model essays in teaching IELTS writing?

3 What measures could be taken to help teachers overcome Lhose challenges?

1.3 Significance of the study

‘As the present study investigated the use of model essays to teach IELTS writing in Foundation Sludies Deparlmenl, ils benefits to the largel population, which are the teachers

of Foundation Studies Department are substantial Specifically, the study serves as: firstly,

an overall review of what aspects of model essays have been employed in teaching IEL1'S writing; secondly, a critical analysis of chaltonges of applying Uh

tialegie Lools; and

lastly, a concrete proposal to exploit them effectively in teaching IELTS wuting in the investigated department Apart fom that, teachers who have been teaching IELTS writing

in ofr educational settings throughout the country can also bensfit renendously ñom

this paper

1.4 Scope of the study

The study focused on exploiting model essays to teach writing in IELTS format in particular, not writing skill in gencral Apart from that, duc to the small scalc of the study, only Foundation Studies Department, Hanoi University was chosen as the research setting,

‘The samples of the study, as a result, were restricted to eight teachers, ‘This number of participants is sulliciont to provide vatid and roliabls information, the contributions of which are vital to the success of'the study Students were not involved because the research exclusively delved into how exploitation of model essays assisted the teaching of IELTS, not the learning pro

1.3 Methods of the study

In order to achieve the aforementioned aims, the study applied such methods as

collected from the first instrument,

As for data analysis methods, the researcher recorded all eighl interviews and they were then transcribed, analyzed and synthesized so as to provide a deeper insight inte

the mutter Regarding two lesson observations, detailed descriptions were provided first,

followed by in-depth anal

1.6 An overview of the resi nf the paper

The rest of ths paper includes five chaptars as follows

Chapter 2 provides the background of the study, including a review on key concepts relating to the research topic, This chapter also briefly discusses the literature in the field to reveal the research gap that needs to be filled

Chapter 3 presents the research methods adopted in the study Justifications of the chosen research instruments as well as their implementation are also provided

Chapter 4 reveals the results of the research and gives critical interpretations and analyses of thase 1 sulls, Subsoqnenlly, the discussion refers hack to the literature in the

research areas to show both the similarities and differences in the findings

Chapter 5 gives recommendations for employing model essays efléctively to teach IELTS Writing at the target department ttom pedagogical perspectives

Chapter 6 summarizes the major findings of the study, and then indicates some contribulions as well as limitations of the study In addition, suggestions for farther siudy are put forward, Following this chapter are Appendices and References

CIIAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

ILLYS is a set of examinations managed by the Lritish Council, the University of

Cambridge ESOT Examinations, and TDP TELTS Australia IALTS has become inercasingly

recognized as a “secure, valid and reliable indicater of true to life ability to communicate

in English for education, inmigration and professional accreditation” (CLES, 2007,

p.3) It has been adopted by many English-medium universities all over the world, mainly

in the United Kingdom and Australia

There are two modules in IELTS, namely acadenue and general The former is for

candidates expecting to study at tertiary level, while the latter is mainly for immigration

purposes

The test is divided into four sections: speaking, listening, reading, and writing

Speaking and listening scctions in both general and academic module are the same while

reading and writing tasks are completely different ‘his study particularly works on the

acaderni¢ module, which serves sluily purposes

2.1.2 IELTS writing test

2.1.2.1 Test format

‘The IKLTS writing test (academic module) embraces two distinct tasks In ‘l'ask 1,

sxamminees arc required lo write a short description of information presented ir the visual data such as charts, tables and diagram The minimum length of their essay is 150 words,

In ‘Task 2, candidates are expected to write an argumentative essay in response to

controversial issue or emerging problem, They have to show an ability to demonstrate an

argument from a certain standpoint, suggest the solution and justify their opinion by drawing on their own knowledge and cxpericnee The candidate must write al least 250 words, (UCLES, 2007, p.3)

2.1.2.2 Assessment Criteria

Fach task is marked separately and the Lolal scare is reported on a seale of 1 to 9 al intervals of 0.5 Although the total band for the writing section is calculated by marking results for both, the weight of Task 2 is more than Task 1 The official assessment criteria for Task 1 and Task 2 arc as follows:

{1) Task Achievement (Task 1) / Task Response (Task 2): This examines how much candidates fulfill task requirements using the limited number of words, Task achievement refers to how visual data is described whereas task response is whether candidates construct

an argument tesponding lo the taller given in Ihe lask and whether the argument is supported by their knowledge, personal experiences, solid evidence, and concrete examples

(2) Coherence and Cohesion: these two criteria relates to the clarity and fluency of the passage Specifically, coherence means how cach sentence and paragraph arc logically linked and cohesion concems the proper use for cohesive device (e.g., conjunction, pronoun, repetition of synonym) to achieve the referential relationships between sentences and paragraphs

(3) Lexical Resource: This refers to the range of vocabulary [he candidals uses and

how appropriate the use of vocabulary is

(4) Granmatical Range and Accuracy: This critcrion examines how varicdly and accurately the candidate uses grammatical resources at sentence-level

As defined by Abe Mukoto (2008, p.15), a mudcl essay “tends to refer to a model

Jext written by a native or a writer of native-like proficiency” while a sample essay usually

information in their own work

This study exclusively investigates the use of model essays composed by a native or

native-like proficiency writer

2.1.3.2 Advantages and disadvantages of model essays

* it provides writing assistance Students may use writing samples as a guide in crealing their own works The examples may help students dircetly on how Lo make their

own compositions Some of these are actually instructive, providing significant pointers

aiming to help students “crop up an extremely impressive job”

* It enhaaces students’ work Students’ work may truly be improved when the author

written by impressive authors".

Ianrthermore, Ferris and Iledgoock (1998) argne that writers have to bs exposed to various types of reading matsrial sines i! is difficult to acquire writing skills by only writing He also argues that given the opportunities to leam the available model texts, learners can eventually apply their knowledge about those texts to their writing Before that, Smagorinsky (1992) discusses (hal hodel essa

sufficient amount of content knowledge

sare Lhe most helpful tol if writers have a

2.1.3.2.2 Disadvantages:

Any pedagogical tools can be both advantagcous and disadvantagcous to some

extent, Using model essays is no exception,

There are also sevaral objections to exploiting model essays in writing context Murray (1980) points out that the process of making meaning in the target language cannot

be achicved by referring lo writlen texts In addition, Goby (1997) asserted thal, model essays prevent learners ftom having creativity; which she believes is one of the important aspects of leaming writing skills It oftentimes leads students to become lazier as they just

rely on the ideas of the author instead of ereating their own

Writing instruction with model cssays has also boon crilicived by olher rescarchors (Collins & Gentner, 1980; Judy, 1980) for laying emphasis not on content but on form

‘They insist that language form and the content of composition are inseparabls ‘I'here has been agrocmnert thal reading model essays is important, bul not totally sufficient (Ferris and Hedgeock, 1998, Hyland, 2003) In short, due to those Limitations, teachais are required to

have full awareness as well as flexibility in certain circumstances

Finally, Kees Dave (2009) raised the issue of “complex high-level language” in inode] essays ax another drawback “What sudents need is language that is at their target

level or very slighily above This kind of language is accessible This kind of language is

highly learnable” Model essays, however, often times embrace complicated language or

structures a3 they are composed by “a native or a writer of native-tike proficiency”

2.2 Context of teaching IELTS writing

Innovatively, in Vietnam now, not only such English language centers provide IELTS classes, some colleges, universities and academies have also started to officially train their studenls language skills for TEL-TS Implementation of TRITS tsxthaoks have been monitored and achieved success to some extent The context of teaching IELTS in Vietnam, therefore has been far improved than some decades ago

2.2.2 In Foundation Studles Department, Hanoi University

Listablished in 1959, Ilanoi University has always held a high rank in the top list of educational settings which train and pradnee the mosh competent students of farcign

languages throughout the city

Since 2005, several new departments (which do not specialize in languages but other majors) have been founded such as I’, Banking and Finance, ‘Tourism Management cls However, those departments of Hanoi University differ from their counterparts in other universities in [hal stuflents Inve Lo learn their majors in English, which is not their mother tongue In the first year, students learn to consolidate their English to achieve IELTS

overall band score of at least 6.0 l’oundation Studies Department, therefore, was born to

assist those students as it exclusively trains and cquips non-English majors in their first year with suificient knowledge of English to pass the conditional IELTS test If students cannot achieve such a target band score, they are not allowed ta contime their major courses in the aforementioned departments (IT, Tourism management, Banking and

Finance ete.)

Due to zuch a demanding target, teaching and learning I7TLS is reoogniZed as

compulsory and crucial Bolh teachers and shudents im Foundation Studic

Department

have been working seriously on IELTS in every course Regarding teaching IELTS writing

in specific, the design of appropriate syllabus for one-year program, implementation of both generat Pnglish amd IELTS lextbooks have been revised and re-adapled from year lo

year to best suit the learning needs

2.3 Related studiey and fitness nf the present study into the field

As one of the most powerful tools for teaching writing, the use of model cssays

has been discussed in several studies David C Hughes (1999) in his research named

“The use of model essays to reduce context affects in essay scoring” revealed the

existence of context effects in the scoring of essays He also emphasized on the effzctivenass of providing scorers with model essays to reduce the influence of context,

Concerning IELTS writing, there have been some investigations into effective

strategic tools for teachers In the paper named “he 4ELTS Writing Test - text issues and teaching strategies’, Slaler Slephen (2002) exptored some of the issucs surrounding

candidate performance on the Writing section of the IELTS test and discussed some

practical strategies for assisting the written performance of [LL1'S test candidates Noverlhuless, the paper gave a list of strategic tools for teaching IELTS writing and did

not focus on any particular tool Model essays, therefore, were not thoroughly researched

as a way to improve students’ writing in LELTS test

‘The exploitation of model essays in teaching IELTS writing was closely

investigated in a rare paper named “Explering the role of madel essays in the IELTS WRITING test: A feedback iool” by Abe Makoto (2008) She attempted to idemify the role of a model essay as a feedback tool for writing instruction More specifically, her

paper aimed to reveal how Japanese ESL students notice their language problems by comparing their own wriling wilh a model

y in the context of preparation for the IELTS writing test Obviously, Makoto Abe is oriented to investigate the role of model essays perceived by IELTS students, The research gap is that teachers" perspectives on

the usefulness of model essays and ways lo exploil them in leaching have hardly ever been

researched As a result, this gap has intrigued the researcher to conduct a study on

“Exploiting madel essays in teaching IELIS WRITING to ESL students in Foundation

Studies Department, Hanat University” Also, Iho seope of the study is narrowed with

different groups of target participants, namely ESL students in Foundation Studies Department, who have been learning IELTS in one-year program with the target band

scare of 6.0

Conclusion

This chaplor tas provided an overview of the Televant Titcralure in the Geld of study, marnely the definitions of key lerms, the conlext of caching TELTS writing in Vietnam and in the investigated department, and finally a review of related study to expose the research gap I'hose will be referred back in the following chapters

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

Introduction

‘This chapter embraces the main points regarding the methodology applied in the study, namely the participants, research instruments as well as data collection procedure In addition, it is notable that data analysis will be delayed until the next chapter- Results and Discussion

3.1 Participants

‘Teachers in Foundation Studies Department as respondents actively took part in the data collection procedure with the total number of eight, the majority of whom are female

In fact, eight was not a big number but it was enough for in-depth interviews, which aimed

at exploiting the “real and rich” data, (Freeman & Long, 1991, p.12) Besides, as the study

exclusively investigated the role of model essays from teaching perspectives, teachers are

the sole participants Their students in IELTS class, therefore, were not involved

The researcher purposefillly selected teachers of different teaching experience in the target department, ranging from three to five years, Those with five-year experience

could provide an overview of the context of teaching IELTS through years and evaluation

of the development while those with less-than-five-year experience showed their

recognition of innovations in the teaching methodology Description of teachers was

summarized in Table 1 below:

to achieve the ain of addressing all three rescarch questions With the approval of all subjects, all of the talks were tape-recorded for later reference Language for interviews was mainly Vietnamese due to the preference of all respondents This choics of language did not threaten the reliability of data collected In stead, it helped consolidate the preciseness of data as well as avoid any misunderstanding among both interviewers and

interviewees

Unarguably, the exploitation of semi-structured interviews was advantageous in two aspeels First, the re:

cher both closely followed a list of questions and flexibly

extended the content to best exploit the information trom interviewees As asserted by Mathers, ox and [funn (1998), semi-structured interviews provided “opportunities for

both interviewer and interviewee to discurs some topics in more details” Hancock (1998,

p.7) also cmphasizcd on the advantage of offering “a nclmess and depth of information”

and the chances to “obtain a variety of responses from the interviewees” As a result, the

inlerviewer could [lexibly develop the free-flowing talks to take the most of information

Secondly, through verbal talks, the interviewer could recognize the interviewees’ attitudes

towards the investigated issue through their non-verbal expressions, then check whether or

not they conveyed the reliable answers “Real and rich daia” was then could he

guaranteed, (Freeman & Long, 1991, p.12)

Briefly, thanks to the assistance of semi-structured interviews, in-depth data was

sl

gathered, which helped addre hree research questions It is worlh mentioning that teachers, the interviewees, through face-to-face talks, provided a variety of explanations, elaborations as well as pedagogical-oriented recommendations to filly address ths last research question

3.2.3 Lesson observations

Due to the scope of the study and the rich amount of data gathered, two observations were done and selected as a representative samples, The researcher purposefillly chose to observe lessons of two out of eight interviewed teachers to double check the data coll

ed from them Observation scheme and criteria checklist were

applied for later descriptions and analyses

The first observed tesson was on TELTS Writing Task 1 and the other ontirety focused on Task 2 They took place in two different classes with the duration of 90 minutes for each Critical analyses of teacher’s exploitation of model essays would be discussed in dctails in the following chaptcr- Results and Discussion,

The application of lesson obscrvalions could be explained for one reason As pomtsd out by Gajendia, V & Karka, M.(1999), observation was” a fool for collecting information without directly questioning on the part of researcher” It proved to be an appropriate and ¢ffsolive instrument to refitte and re-check the reliability of dala gathored

trom interviews

Overall, the two data collection instruments, namely semi-structured interviews and lesson observations, were implemented in order to best gather a sufficient amount of

needed infortnation

3.3 Data collection procedure

The process of collecting dala coukl be divided into four main phases, whieh are

elaborated on as follows

Phase 1: The initial slage was making carcful preparations for the main lask of collecting data in the investigated place Specifically, questions in in-depth interviews were designed, based on three research questions The researcher always considered to keep all

personal information of participants confidential and anonymous for ethical reasons Apart from thei, pilot interviews were also conducted with voluntary respondents, the resulls of which were seriously taken into account in order to produce the best final versions

In addition, for the preparation for Lesson observations close contacts with teachers

al the investigated selling were buill up so [hai permission for observation was oblained in advance

Phase 2: The second stage took place at the target department, where face to face inlerviews were eonducled among the partivipanis Normally, all of the interviows were preceded by establishing a good rapport between the researcher and the respondents, Henceforth, all participants felt free and comfortable to participate in ten interviews

Following verbat interviews was the application of two lesson obscrvalions Audio records along with a checklist of criteria for observations were done so that the researcher could have detailed reference to consult when analyzing

Phase 3: The last phase was synthesizing and classifying the data collected ftom interviews and lesson obscrvation As regards interviews, some abstracts including

contributive information were fully transcribed Kor two selected lesson observations, their

It was noteworthy that all the results gathered ftom two methods would he comprehensively analyzed and discusscd in the following chapter- Results and Discussion Conclusion

Allin all, the chapter has justified the methodology applied in the present sludy by

clarifying four aspccls, namely participants, instruments, dala collection as well ws data analysis procedure, The presentation along with the interpretation of findings will be elaborated on in the up-coming chapter

CIIAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Introduction

‘This chapter covers two separate sections, including Results and Discussion of results In the former section, there is a comprehensive presentation and interpretation of findings in accordance with three research questions, which paves the way for further discussion in the latter section fustifications and analyses of the collected results are also

provided im connection with those of the literature in the field

4.4 Results

4.1.1 Research question 1: Aspects of the model essays teachers exploit to teach

TELTS writing in class

When being asked these wo questions: “Have you ever uscd model essays to teach IELTS writing?” and “Do you find model essays useful for your teaching?”, all eight teachers gave “Yes” for their answer ‘his was a conerete evidence that teachers wers fully conscious of how much model essays contributed to the success of their tesson Since IELTS Writing involved two distinct tasks, what teachers employed from the model essays varied in particular task

Regarding ‘Task 1, language use was most frequently exploited fom the model

al 75%, The

essays with tho dominant proportion of teachers” va «of vocabulary proved to be the focus ofall IELTS writing task 1 lessons, as asserted by teacher 1 (T1):

“Describing charts or graphs in English is completely new to Viemamese students

So it is vital that teachers provide students with enough language input Particularly in Task |, awa typical kinds of language are language for trend and for comparison T often

use model essays to show students clearly how to use those two kinds of language.’

To advovale the exploitation of language usc, T6 added: “When delivering model

essays for Task 1 to my students, I usually tell them to underline verbs, nours, adjectives or

adverbs that describe the data Then I ask them to discuss how those words are used And

itworks very well in my lessons.”

Occupying the sccond biggest percentage (62.5%) was data deseription, which refaired to how to interpret and compare data effectively in Task 1

“Reading a chart or a diagram”, said 7, “is often complicated and problematic to

my students Even if they can understand the information in the chart, they may not know how to organize their description of data: where to start, what data to highlight, how to

compare data together etc That is why I always use model essays and give students chances to see and analyse how the writer describes and compares data A given essay

seems to be the most convenient tool to teach students how to write about statsties.”

Another teacher (T3) indicated data description as one distinctive feature of IELTS

Writing ‘Task 1: “JULUS Writing test differs fiom that of TOIL, GMAT or any ather tests

in that siudents have to describe visual information (data) presented in charts,

diagrams Thus, when teaching Task 1, this is what 1 focus on”

The analysis of semtonce types or structures in model essays came third with one quarter of teachers’ votes U'ssay organization, predictably, captured only a modest rate of participants, twanely 12.5% and appeared to be the least exploited ils on tha isl This was sviđenesd by T4

“Unlike in Writing Task 2, IELTS Format in Task 1 is not so difficult for students to

follow All my students naw very well the structure of one essay for Task 1 They are well aware of what to write in the introduction, main body and conclusion after some heginning

lessons There

fore, I don't have ta spend time analysing the essay organization anymore.

18

Figure 1: Aspects of model essays most exploited by

teachers in IELTS Writing Task 1

4 Sentence types/structures Essay organization

Particularly, the aforementioned results were precisely reflected in the first observed lesson

on IELTS Writing Task 1, in which language use and data description were exploited with high frequency The lesson, which aimed at describing line graph, was divided into two stages In the first stage, teacher gave an introduction of what made a line graph, then

provided students with language for trends to describe the data A number of practice

exercises on how to use this kind of language were afterwards delivered to ensure students” understanding The first stage lasted for roughly 45 minutes exclusively focusing on language use Turning to the second stage, teacher asked students to read a model essay on

a particular line graph about wheat exports in three regions The model essay was designed

in gap-filling activities, aimed to test students’ use of language for trends This activity

took students 10 minutes to complete, followed by guiding questions related to how to

describe data Obviously, the model essay was used first for reviewing language, then for

analyzing the description of data, ‘The results from observation therefore, reinforced the

teliabilily of data collceted from face-to-fhec interviews

Concerning Task 2, the rating revealed a striking difference from that of Task L Language use no longer captured the largest percentage It was voted by only a modest proportion of respondents, namely 25%

T4 who highly recommended the analysis of language use in Task 1 said: “Jn contrast to Task J, language use in Task 2 is rarely what I select to analyze from model essays Topics in Tusk 2 varied greatly, so itis very difficult for teachers to teach students

how to remember and use vocabidary focus more on the ideas and arguments,”

Another major dissimilarity was attributed to the figure of essay organization This element in ‘Task | was rated by only one teacher while in‘Task 2 five out of eight teachers voted for il, making essay organization the sccond most regularly exploited TS showed her opinion as such:

“Uf in Task 1, students ere asked to describe deta only, in Task 2 they have to do

more jobs justify opinion, discuss argument or suggest salutions to certain problem All those different jobs require students to write different types of essay, each of which has

particular structure As a result, I focus more on essay organization in Task 2”

The selection of essay organization was supported by T5 as such: “dciully, J have

to be very selective to choose model essays because several of them do not follow strictly IELTS Task 2 format The essays T chose 10 hring into class must he some kind of standard

so that I feel confident to teach my students about essay orgursation for particular type in

Task 2.”

Striking, 100% teachers indicated idea delivery as the most useful aspect to

employ from the model essays All eight interviewees met in agreement that the

exploitation of idea delivery was definitely beneficial to their teaching In contrast,

sentence types/structures, along with language use shared the lowest rate, at 25%

The lngh tiequency of idea delivery was justified by T7:

“If Task 1 typically referred to how to describe date, Task 2 is distinctive in haw to deliver ideas or arguments There is no reason why I should not exploit this aspect from

the model essays to teach my students how to write When my students are fully conscious

of the effective ways to express ideas and opinions, they will perform very well in their

essay.”

Approving upon the employment of idea delivery from model essay, T3 added:

“Model essays are very beneficial for students to notice the convincingness of good ideas When students have opportunities to read a good piece of writing, they will be impressed

by how the author supports their opinions, Then it-will be the right time for teachers to

encourage students to learn how to argue in Task 2."

Figure 2: Aspects of model essays most exploited by teachers

in IELTS Writing Task 2

O Sentence types/structures OEssay organization

Those findings were convincingly supported by the researcher’s observation in the second

IELTS writing lesson on Task 2, the objective of which was to teach students how to write

argument-led essay In the first phase of the lesson, teacher gave students the topic for the test as well as its requirements Then students were asked to work in pairs to brainstorm

ideas about the topic After a ten-minute discussion, teacher elicited students’ answers,

sxploilod to tho fullest Tsacher was very crealive to ask studgnls actively explore this aspect by themselves, which assisted students a great deal in their learning how to write an argument-led essay

In conclusion, both findings fiom interviews and lesson observations reintorced the reliability as well as validity of data collected, which helped fully address the very first

rescarch question

4.1.2 Research questian 2: Challenges teachers probably face when employing mailel

essays in teaching IELTS writing

As emphasized by TS, “model essays are a very usefid kind of teaching tools but it

is not simple to make fill use of them”, all eight teachers confronted certain stumbling blocks when they ulilized model essays lo leach IELTS writing

In terms of Task I, il was convincingly evidenced by Table 4 that zesing model essays to explain how to describe data effectively appeared to be most challenging to three quarters of the respondents

“Describing figures in charts or tables is a completely new task ta almost all

students”, said TS, “4s a teacher, T can work out the way very quickly front the model, but

explaining u for students is not simple at all Lots of tiem do not know how to read the data, thus are very weak at understanding the description of data ”

Sharing the same opinion with T5, T8 asserted that: “I find it quite hard to make

students see clearly what to do with the data in particular chart Some charts are simple to

students io read the data but others are noi, So, for more complicated charts, even when I provide students with model answers and explain explicitly for them, many are still

confiused.”

re B

Predictably, the job of selecting appropriate model essays was not an easy task for half of IELTS writing teachers:

“Well, actually I have a lot of IELTS books and references but choosing a good

model essays still bothers me a lot, Before deciding on one, I have to think about the level, the language, the style etc Are they suitable for my students? You know, if we select on the wrong one, we will fail to teach our demanding students."

Only one quarter of teachers mentioned the difficulty in designing relevant activities to make full use of model essays This complaint is given by T7 as follows:

“If we just give students to model to read all the time, it will be so boring I always

try to think of activities related to the model essay so that I can make fill use of it But sometimes run out of ideas and have few things to exploit from the model one.”

Finally, the trouble of teaching students haw to apply good sentence structures

from model essays bothered only one teacher It seemed that guiding students at sentence-

level is not a hard job for almost all respondents,

Designing rélevant activities to make full use of model 25%

essays

Teaching students how to apply good sentence structures 12.5%

fiom model essays

Table 2: Challenges in using model essays of IELTS Writing Task 1

As regards to Task 2, it is interesting that teachers shared the same two difficulties

as in Task 1, namely selecting appropriate model essays and designing relevant activities

to make full use model essays While the former still accounted for second largest proportion of teachers’ votes, the latter made up only one third of that with 25% This finding revealed that fact that in both Task 1 and Task 2, selecting appropriate model

essays proved to be the major challenge to almost all teachers.

Prominently, the majority of teachers (87.5%) found troubles with illustrating how ideas are delivered and support each other in Task 2

With more than 3 years of teaching IELTS, TS shared her approval upon this matter: “What challenges my students most in Task 2 is giving argument and supporting it They are short of background knowledge and ideas for particular topics in IELTS Therefore, I usually exploit ideas from model essays to teach my students, But I have difficulty with illustrating how ideas are delivered and support each other

“Sometimes, I am not so successful in showing students how the writer of the model essay supports his ideas”, T2 added, “I have to point out which are the main ideas and which are just supporting details However, some model essays might not have clear idea

delivery And that leads to students’ confusion.”

Lastly, the job of using model essays to analyze IELTS format for different types

of essays was difficult to only two out of eight teachers T6 illustrated this challenge by comparing IELTS format in Task 1 and that in Task 2

“Format for Task 2 is more complicated than Task 1 In Task 2, we have three different types of essay, each of which has its own format Teachers, therefore, have to be very clear about the format for specific type But the problem is not all model essays follow

strictly the format, And it causes troubles "

Those results are summarized in table 5 as follows:

Designing relevant activities to make full use of model 25%

In brief, no matter what obstacles those teachers encountered, they all reached an agreement that “fully ulilixing model

the use of model essays in IELTS Writing lessons, they all admitted not making the best of those teaching tools due to those aforesaid stumbling blocks

a difficull task” Although they advocated

4.1.3 Rescarch question 3: Suggested measures to overcome those challenges

Unquestioningly, those obstacles, to some extent, affected negatively the efctivenass of the lessons Ilowever, when being asked whethsr teachers had any solutions to address those problems, they all said “yes” and appeared to be very enthusiastic to share experience

* Tackling the chullongs of using model essays to explain how to describe data effectively (for Task 1) and iustrating how ideas are delivered and support each other (for ‘Task 2)

While ‘ask I exclusively required the candidates to describe data in charts or diagrams, Task 2 placed the focus on how to arguc about a particular lopie Though these two tasks were completely different, mmmy teachers applicd the same procedure ta exploit the model essays in their teaching They proposed three steps, namely provision of time for students’ analyses and discovery of the model essays, elicitation of students’ ideas and teachers’ wrap-up This three-step procedure, as stated by T5, must be strictly

followed in order to ensure the logics of the lesson:

“Afier I give students to model to read, I first let them work on their own ta

discover how data is described by the writer (task 1) As they have finished their work, 1 will then elicit their ideas I let them openly express how they understand the description

from the model essay Sometimes I may ask them to write the outline of the description on

the baard for the whole class to see When all ideas are collected from the students, }

started to voice my comments and wrap up the ideas At tus point, I make the final

conchision on how to describe the data in Task 1.”

* Tackling the challenge of choosing appropriate model essays (in Task | & Task 2)

It was advised by three teachers that considering students’ level as well as the

focus of the lesson would definitely helped icachers to sclecl a suilable mode! essay For

the former suggestion, T1 gave her explanation as follows:

“Uf the model essay is toa complicated for students to understand, in fails to help teachers I therefare tend to choose the one with simple use of vocabulary together with

simple structures You know, my students are just of intermediate level.”

Another teacher particularly emphasized on taking the focus of the lesson into

account: “dav fesson must have the focus The model essay we choose, as a result, must helps stress on the focus There nuty he a lot of interesting modal answers, hut teachers

have to choose the one that has something iv serve the focus of the lesson.”

* Tackling the challenge of designing relevant activities fo muke full use of model essays (in both Task | and Task 2)

As confirmued by 7, iL would be boring to just give shuilents the model essays to read without doing something clsc with it Thus, it was teachers’ job to create related activities to make the most of the model, which seemed not easy at all In order to cope

To be more specific, the activities are skill-focused, or language-focused or simply fa

interest students and motivate them I'm sure when teachers know very well what they will

do with model essays, the activities will be relevant and assist effectively their teaching.”

Tackling the challenge of teaching students how to apply good sentence structures from model essays (in'Yask 1)

To overcome this obstacle, T6 indicated the repeated introduction of structures

along with teacher’s regular encouragement and correction 2s one feasible solution

She highlighted the need for regular check by teachers

“The point is”, said 16, “if we just introduce the structures once only, students will soon forget them Teachers shoud repeatedly introduce the structures and constantly

encourage them to apply those structures into their own wriling, A lot of stedents,just know

and understand the structures, but have no intention to use them So to avoid this situation,

teachers had better remind students of applying the structures they learn, then check and

correct their work.”

«+ Tackling the challenge of using model essays to analyze IELTS format for different types of essays (in Task 2)

Two out of eight teachers agreed upon on the fact that not all model essays for Task

2 follow the same format, making it troublesome for them to guide students how to

the ones with clear and logical structures.” This solution, unquestioningly was

enormously helpful in erasing students’ confusion

In summary, all eight respondents proposed many feasible solutions to certain difficulties they confronted when employing model essays in writing class Such measures would be scriowly taken into consideration amd justified in the following chapter — Pedagogical Implications and Recommendations

4.2 Discussion of Results

4.2.1 Research question 1: Aspects of motel essays teachers exploit (m teach IELTS

writing in class

With regard to the first research question, all findings will be thoroughly and

critically discussed in cormection with the literature in the area

‘The present study indicated that teachers exploited four elements from model essays, three of which were the same in both Task 1 and Task 2, narncly language use, essay organization, sentence types/structures The distinctive aspect in Task 1 was data description whereas Task 2 was characterized by idea delivery Predictably reason for teachers’ exploitation of those four clements for cach task originates fiom four assessment criteria for IELTS Writing Test, specifically Task achievement (Task 1)/ Task response (ask 2), Coherence & Cohesion, Lexical resource and Grammar range & accuracy Krom tsaching perspoclive, model essays ars omplaycd as conercic oxamples for students 10 notice how their own essays might be evaluated and marked by IELTS sxanuners

"Teachers, accordingly, pick up four elements corresponding to four assessment criteria to guide studenis how to write effectively, which is a very comprehonsibls and appropriate method of teaching,

kè 3

* Aspects exploited from model essays in Task 1:

Among four selected elements for Task 1, language use dominated others, occupying three quarters of teachers’ votes This stnking result, surprisingly, closely coincided with that of Abe Makoto’s study named “Zsploring the role of model essays in

TELTS writing test: a feedhack tool” im 2008 Allhough Abc Makolo rescarched the function of model essays as feedback tool from leamers’ perspective, she also figured out lexical element as “the most frequently verbalized by the participants” Findings from her study revealed that the majority of the IELTS candidates referred to the discovery of more appropriate, sophisticated, and academic vocabulary in the model essay (77.4%)

Interestingly, such a coincidence is well supported by Moore and Morton (1999),

when they comparad TRLLTS writing task ilerns with 185 assignments given in two Austraan universities, They found that IELTS Task 1 was “representative of the target Janguage use” In other words, the range of vocabulary differentiated [EL''S ‘Task 1 with

other writing tasks The [aet that leachers s

locked the asp

1 Tanguage use” for full

exploitation, therefore, was reasonable

Another prominent element for utilization in ‘ask 1 was data description,

amounting lo 62.5% af the total As far as the researcher could find, this result was

previously presented by Abe Makoto who made investigation on students’ concem about

“what information in the table‘chart should be included in their descriptive essay” In her

study, Makolo sought explanation for this finding from the particular requirement in Task

1 Since the task involves candidates to analyze and interpret data, model essays are

valuable sources for them to learn and reflect on how to describe Data description, as a

resull, is exploited with a fairly high frequency

* Aspects exploited from model essays in Task 2:

Findings for Task 2 revealed a sharp contrasl with those far Task 1 Unexpectedly, language use, the most regular aspect for analysis in Task 1 was not trequently used in Task 2, making up just the lowest proportion of participants’ votes (25%) This significant

result, however, well corresponded with ideas fiom Moore and Morton (1999) who made

a critical review on IELTS writing test As stated in their review, “JELTS Task I was

representative of the target language use ‘I1LU) content, while IELTS Task 2, which reqntires students to agree or disagree with a proposition, did not match exactly with any af

the academic genres in the TLU domain because it was hased on prior knowledge as a source of information.”

The most striking finding in Task 2 was attributed to the high frequency of exploitation of idea delivery which occupied up to 100% of respondents’ votes Apparently, il was the major element for leachers’ analysis This result, nevertheles

slightly different from that in Abe Makoto’s research Her study put an emphasis on three

main aspects for use, namely lexical, form and content ‘The last element, content, which

Apparenlly, boll the present sludy and related ones in the field shared Ue same indication of four elements However, they differed in the frequency of using them This difference can be justified by the perspective of teaching and learning ‘Ihe present study investigated the exploitalion of model essays from teachers’ perspective whereas Abe Makoto viewed the research matter fiom Isamers* angle, Although both teachers and learners exploit the same aspects fiom model essays, it does not necessarily mean they use them with the same frequency

4.2.2 Research question 2: Challenges teachers probably face when employing model essays in teaching IELTS writing

One of the most imtercsling findings from collected data is f s for